Of Lavender Soap and Hot Chocolate Love
by howlsatthemoon
Summary: There's this odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. What could it possibly be? Jealousy? Love? Oh, he's probably just hungry or something. / Lily and Teddy before the complications arose. For Ellie, aka silveraurora.


_Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter, and probably never will_.

Another Lily/Teddy! This one is kind of them at a younger age, when they haven't realized they're totally meant for each other but there's still that connection between them. Haha. What am I saying? Oh wells.

For Ellieeeeee! (Aka, s i l v e r a u r o r a) because she's one of the best Lily/Teddy writers out there and she reminded me how totally awesomely awesome these two can be!

-;-

_lavender soap and hot chocolate love_

"Why, why, why, _why_?" the little redhead screeches, waving her wand around crazily and glaring at the rainbow-striped dress in front of her. Immediately, the overpowering magic within her skinny, thirteen-year-old body takes advantage of her anger and every single blood-red rose in her mum's precious garden wilts. "Oh, crap," she curses as she buries her face in her palms and flings her twelve-inch wand of Mahogany with a strand from a female unicorn's tale as a core into the wild forest of grass her father always "forgets" to trim.

Behind her, Teddy Lupin chuckles. "Language," he reminds the young girl, tapping her shoulder. "What's up, Lilypad?"

"Teddy!" Lily shrieks immediately at the sight of him and throws herself into his muscled arms, hugging him tightly to her. "Oh, I haven't seen you in ages! How's the Ministry? Is Aunt 'Mione doing well? It's her first year on the job, after all." After an eternity of simply feeling Teddy close to her again, she lets go and plops back onto the ground nimbly on her feet. "You're so… tall. And _handsome_, of course." She laughs when he grins, his blond hair morphing into the usual dynamic blue it takes on whenever he sees his other half (in a completely platonic way, of course. Just keep telling yourself that, Theodore.) "How's Victoire?"

Clueless, the boy—man, now—does not hear the implement of jealousy in her voice, the way her bright green eyes, identical to both her father and grandmother flash dangerously at the mention of _her_ name. It's nothing against the girl, really, she's kind and smart and oh-so-goddamn-pretty. The only strike against her is the fact that she's got dibs on this man in front of her. "She's, well, Victoire," Teddy replies, his cheeks coloring. "You know. She's one of those high-maintenance gals, Vic is. We're—er—on a _break_, now, I think she said, but oh well. It's nice to be, um, free, I guess. Anyways, what've you got here?" Teddy, glad to be off the topic of the thing that confuses his manly brain the most, reaches down and picks up Lily's cast-away wand. "Ah, abusing your wand much, Lils?" he asks, smirking.

Lily blushes modestly. "Oh, Ted, you know me so well," she says back playfully, snatching the wand back from her fingers. "The things just so damn—" Teddy raises an eyebrow, but Lily rolls her eyes. "Since when've you cared? Anyway, my wand's just being so damn stupid. I was, er, trying to get it to change the color of my dress, but all it'll do is make the ruffles… rufflier!" Lily stomps her feet on the ground, and, surely, somewhere in the girl's mind, the Earth is probably shaking madly, but right now, her ninety-four pound body barely makes an impact.

"You've got to be patient," Teddy explains gently, holding out his palm. Reluctantly, Lily places her scratched-up wand into his fingers. He curls the wand up into his fist and flicks his wrist. "What do you want to change the color of the dress for, anyway, Lils? _Reducio_." He turns to his… whatever-she-is. Best friend? Honorary cousin?

Lily smiles and sits down cross-legged in the grass as she watches him shrink the ridiculously-sized ruffles. "It's, um, for a party," she explains nervously, scratching the back of her neck. "At, um, Lysander Scamander's house. He invited me. Oh, and Molly and Lucy, too. It's this weekend, on Saturday, and I couldn't go shopping so I thought I'd just change the color of my dress so it'll look like new, and that's where you came in."

"Huh," Teddy grunts. There's this odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. What could it possibly be? It's the same thing that settles every time a boy's eyes linger on Lily's figure for too long, or that one time when he caught Victoire snogging Klaus Wood. Oh, well, he's probably just hungry or something. "What're you guys going to do at Scamander's house?" Teddy asks, perfectly innocent. _There's nothing wrong with asking, right?_ he reasons in his head.

At his feet, Lily turns red and looks away. "I dunno," she replies meekly, something strangely un-Lily-esque. "Things, I guess."

"Mhmm." Teddy mutters a spell under his breath and turns the rainbow dress white. "What color do you want it to be?" he asks Lily, taking her small hand and helping her stand up. He holds onto her fingers, opening them up and letting the wand roll into her fist.

"Black," Lily answers happily, and he lets him hold onto her hand. After all, he's got to teach her how to do it.

"It's all in the wrist," Teddy advices, "Be quick and snap the wrist cleanly. There you go, that's it."

Soon enough, the white dress turns the color of midnight and Lily claps excitedly, turning around and hugging Teddy before he can respond. "Thanks so much, Teddy," she murmurs, pressing her face into his shoulder. His arms find their way around her waist and he squeezes her, smiling against her red hair.

"Welcome, Lilypad," he replies. She smells like lavender soap and hot chocolate, the same thing he'd caught a whiff of in seventh-year potions when Professor Wright made Amortentia. He thinks nothing of it but coincidence.

Hesitating, Lily lets go of her tight grip on him and for that split second, Teddy feels empty without the feel of her against him. "I'm going to go try this dress on," she says, her voice weak at first before regaining its fiery strength, the way it almost sounds like she's shouting when she's really not.

"Go ahead," Teddy encourages, "I'm sure it'll look great on you."

"Thanks again, Teddy," she laughs, kissing his cheek lightly before running towards the back door. "You're staying for dinner, aren't you?" she calls behind her, pausing to look back at him.

"Course," he yells back, and she goes on running, leaving her scent lingering with him as Teddy wonders why it always feels like a flame's ignited in his heart whenever Lily Luna Potter is around.


End file.
